Weekday cartoon facts for kids
A weekday cartoon is the colloquial term for the animated series programming that was typically scheduled on weekday mornings and afternoons in the United States on many major television networks and in broadcast syndication since the 1960s.
Current
Since The WB dropped its weekday block on December 30, 2005, there has not been any other major American commercial broadcast network that has aired animated series on weekdays (or children's programming for that matter, other than that was acquired by their local affiliates). PBS is the only network that still runs weekday animated series, but it is a non-commercial network. Neither The CW nor MyNetworkTV have aired (much) cartoons on weekdays - aside from early morning, or rules given from the E/I rule, or any of the Big Three television networks (ABC, NBC and CBS), most of which have opted to lease out children's programming time to other production companies. Other cable networks specializing in family-oriented and children's programming have similarly cut back on animated series on weekdays, though nowhere near the level of that done by broadcast television in the 1980s and 1990s. Even if they were to air such programming, they would have to air it at times in which children are not even awake (5 a.m.-7 a.m.), or they air it directly when they are in school in the morning (7am-9am), and only on certain channels and on local affiliates which choose to opt for cartoons; however - if they have to air regulations on children's television programming in the United States programming because of the federal government's rule on the minimal number of hours that are needed and required. Even if they were to have afternoon programming from the 3pm-5pm, or 2pm-4pm time slots, they will still need to be required to program regulations on children's television programming in the United States programming just as in the morning time slots, or on every network that has cartoons.
In September 2006, Ion Television launched Qubo, which was a three-hour block of programming (and accompanying digital subchannel) that originally aired on Wednesday through Friday afternoons – the E/I-compliant block has since moved to other time periods, and since settling on Friday mornings (airing from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, a time period during which most children are in school), in October 2012. However, on November 1, 2008, This TV launched airing a daily children's program block called Cookie Jar Toons (also known as This is for Kids); the three-hour block aired on Monday through Friday mornings as well as weekend mornings in most markets. This block was discontinued when Tribune Broadcasting assumed partial-ownership of This TV on November 1, 2013 (in favor of a three-hour Sunday-only E/I block), leaving Ion Television's Qubo as the sole remaining weekday children's block on American commercial broadcast television. Besides Qubo, there are only certain markets and syndicated channels that broadcast on weekday cartoons and broadcast it in the United States. The weekday cartoon came to an end on January 4, 2015 when the last-remaining weekday children's block on broadcast television, But - Qubo moved from Friday mornings-to-Sunday mornings under a new name, "Qubo Kids Corner". This had marked the end of a long era in weekday children's programming (including cartoons) going back to the early 1960s. Eventually "Qubo Kids Corner" discontinued thus returning on the weekday block, unlike its traditional schedule which ran Monday-Friday - it airs only on Wednesday-Fridays mornings. MundoMax airs one cartoon during late weekday afternoons in Spanish making the only two commercial networks to air cartoons while adhere the mandates, and the only Spanish network that is non E/I though it broadcast its E/I programming during weekday mornings and weekends. Due to the network closure of MundoMax this leaves only Qubo along with some local low power independent TV stations to air cartoons during the weekdays while adhering to mandates.
In 2016 a new sub-channel network Light TV began airing cartoons on weekday mornings full time for the first time since This TV dropped the format in 2013 after Tribune gained full ownership of the network from Wiegel Broadcasting. It is the 3rd network and the second commercial on the minor network in 3 years to air cartoons while adhering to the mandates without any major sponsorship from food and toy companies. In late September 2019 it was discontinued as the network wind down operations, thus reducing to once a week.
In late 2020 MeTv announced they will air Toonin with me an hour long cartoon block which will air on weekday mornings at 7AM starting in January 2021 nearly 2 years after Light TV reduced cartoons to just once a week.
